Celebrating 90 years of Whiting & Partners

28th September 2018

Founding Partners in 1928 and Signage from the very first office alongside the company seal

Early history

We have practiced as chartered accountants, from 12 offices located in the heart of East Anglia, since 1928. As well as providing services to local clients, we also remotely deliver services to clients much further afield. Primarily, we help individuals start or acquire and run their own successful SME business.

The first offices were in Wisbech, March and Bury St Edmunds and the firm was founded on 1^st October 1928 by father and son Roland Charles Larking, Charles Gordon Larking and Walter Fowler Whiting (pictured) – known as Larking, Larking and Whiting Accountants. The staff comprised of no more than eight.

In 1936 the firm opened offices in Mildenhall and Ramsey followed by Peterborough the preceding year in 1937.

During WW2 a total of 46 Members of the firm served time in the forces.

By 1953 the firm had eight Partners with staff numbers just over one hundred and seven established offices at Wisbech, March, Bury St Edmunds Kings Lynn, Ramsey, Ely and Mildenhall.

In 1968, the Partnership renewed its current name as Whiting & Partners after the retirement of both the founding Larking Partners. This was then followed in 1974 by the retirement of Walter Whiting after 53 years of service.

Recent history

1989 – Computerisation (initially of the accounts preparation process)
1996 – Whiting & Partners Wealth Management Limited incorporated as a subsidiary to specialise in IFA services
1997 – Merged with Moores Rowland practice in Bury St Edmunds
1998 – First website launched
2004 – Merged with Dennis Howe practice in Littleport
2005 – Payroll Bureau established at the Ely Office
2007 – Paperless – commence paperless archiving initially of the audit process
2009 – Merged with Benten & Yeandle practice in Ramsey
2010 – Private Client Tax department established at the Ely Office
2012 – Virtualisation – migrated IT systems into a private cloud
2013 – Digitalisation – commenced paperless working for communications/archives
2013 – Practice led by a Managing Partner for the first time
2014 – Decisive:IT Ltd – subsidiary IT service established
2014 – Merged with Turner & Partners practice in Wisbech
2016 – Registration accepted to provide probate services
2016 – Merged with Paul A Hill & Co practice in St Ives & Chatteris
2017 – Merged with McMorran practice in Godmanchester & St Neots
2017 – Merged with Ely Tax and Accounting practice in Ely
2018 – Celebrate 90^th birthday

90^th celebrations

On October 1^st 2018, Whiting & Partners celebrate their 90^th birthday. The firm now boasts 11 offices in Bury St Edmunds, Ely, King’s Lynn, March, Mildenhall, Milton Keynes, Ramsey, Peterborough, St Ives, St Neots, Wisbech with a total of 15 Partners and 5 Associates.

The firm has seen rapid growth over the past few years expanding into new services such as Wealth Management, IT and Probate whilst continuing to offer a wide range of general practice services.

Whiting & Partners to this day, maintains a local prescence in many market towns across the Eastern Region and continues to evolve to meet the needs of it’s loyal clients following the movement to cloud accounting and the development of Making Tax Digital (MTD) planned to be implemented in 2019.

The staff will be celebrating across the offices with various events and charity fundraising. You will also find our 90^th birthday emblem across all our social media, website and advertising as we look forward to welcoming many new clients onboard in the years to come!